I’ll admit I don’t know a lot about kids, so I may have gotten the moral of this story painfully wrong. But I was recently in the company of some children who taught me a lesson about pasta. It’s a lesson I’ve incorporated into this recipe for Bucatini Pasta with Butter, Mustard Greens and Shiitake Mushrooms.
Cooking advice from children is not something I’m used to accepting (or even listening to). In fact, in my opinion, kids today eat horrendously. I’m not talking about sugary sweets. Kids have always eaten horrendous amounts of sugary sweets (and always will).
Nope, the kind of horrendous eating habit I mean is when the youngest, least refined palate in the group dictates what the rest of us eat. When I was a kid, children ate what was served or they didn’t eat at all (with a few admitted exceptions). Simple, right?
Well, apparently it’s no longer so simple. When it comes to dining a lot of parents cede control to the kids. I was recently with one such family.
Imagine me, happily composing a salad of abstract tastes and textures for a poolside lunch on a warm holiday weekend when one of the kids comes into the kitchen and says: “What are we having for lunch?”
Being the smart aleck that I am, I just assume that this kid has to be kidding me. After all, it’s lunchtime and I’m in the kitchen making a salad. So I take a moment to conjure up the perfect (kid friendly) snarky retort. Just as I’m ready to let loose my verbal alacrity in runs the mother ticking off a list of all the ingredients in this salad that “kids won’t eat”. She doesn’t say that her kids won’t eat these things. She says it like all kids won’t eat these things. Like I said what I don’t know about kids could fill a stadium, but I do know that good eating habits (as well as good manners) start at the top of the family hierarchy.
But it was a lovely afternoon and I decided to keep things lovely. So rather than say what I was thinking I asked her: “What will kids eat?”
“Pasta with butter” was her reply.
Well that’s not so bad, I thought to myself. I could work with that.
Pasta with Butter
After all pasta with butter is a great jumping-off point for many of the best creamy pasta sauces. Notice I said “jumping-off point”. To the horror of the mother I added shiitake mushrooms and fresh mustard greens to this simple pasta with butter. I may have decided to let the kids guide me in the making of this pasta, but I wasn’t going to lob a knob of butter into hot noodles and be done with it. When I was a kid, good eating habits started with the art of eating around the things you didn’t like. After a while you might even start to like them (wow I sound like my mother). GREG
Bucatini with Mustard Greens and Shiitake Mushrooms
Print This Recipe Yield 4Source Inspired by Michael ChiarelloPublishedThis would be wonderful with morels mushrooms as well.
Ingredients
- 4 cup low-sodium chicken stock
- 5 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil (plus more as needed)
- 7 ounce shiitake mushrooms (brushed clean and roughly chopped)
- coarse salt and pepper (as needed for seasoning and pasta water)
- 3 clove garlic (peeled and minced)
- 1 teaspoon minced fresh rosemary leaves
- ½ teaspoon anise seeds
- ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (or to taste)
- 4 cup roughly chopped, packed mustard greens (may substitute spinach or chard, cooking times will vary)
- 2 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 2 tablespoon chopped parsley leaves
- 1 pound dried bucatini (or other strand pasta)
- 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese (divided)
Directions
Place the chicken stock in a large saucepan set over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil then lower the heat, letting the stock reduce by half; set aside.
Heat 4 tablespoons (¼ cup) olive oil in a large saute pan set over medium-high heat. Once the oil begins to shimmer add the mushrooms in as close to a single layer as possible. Let them cook without moving them until lightly browned on one side, about 2 minutes. Stir the mushrooms and saute them, stirring occasionally until brown all over, about 5 more minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Add the garlic and a touch more oil if necessary. Cook stirring often until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the rosemary, anise seeds, red pepper flakes and reduced chicken stock; bring to a boil. Add greens; seasoning them as needed. Lower the heat to a simmer and cook until tender, about 5 more minutes. Stir in the butter and parsley; set aside.
Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook until al dente, about 12 minutes, depending on the pasta you choose. Drain the pasta (reserving about ½ cup of the water) then return the pasta to the pot. Add the greens mixture and ½ cup grated Parmesan, folding to incorporate. Adjust consistency with the reserved pasta water as needed. Pour onto a heated serving platter, garnish with remaining ½ cup cheese and a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil.
I like your style, Daddio!
MY kids will totally LOVE this dish. Terrific top down shot of the bucatini, and dig the inclusion of anise seeds.
I have been taking my kiddos to the farmers market and exposing them to various cultural cuisines since they were very small. They are pretty much willing to try anything, once.… As for dictating what they eat at someone else’s home, they have been taught to accept what they are given graciously and try it. Politely thanking the host even if they don’t like it.…
Oh boy. In our house growing up there were a few nights I remember sitting at the table well after everyone was done because I refused to eat. Beef stew was the absolute worst for me since all the vegetables tasted just like beef and that made me gag. I developed a habit of hiding the potatoes in my sister’s glass of milk when she wasn’t looking.
I’ve stopped doing that btw. And adding anise to this sounds lovely!
I’m not surprised that you handled such a situation so well! Gorgeous meal, and I’m really curious about what your prepared arsenal of verbal alacrity was. 😉
That sounds really good! I might try a version with a thinner pasta even though I do love bucatini. I think I just love the sauces more.
Pasta and butter is a great dish. With Parmesan, of course. And I agree with you — why stop there? This looks wonderful. Love the mustard greens — perfect. Thanks.
Oh, Greg, you handled that beautifully! I don’t know if I could have restrained myself as well as you did. There are many ways to retrain a picky eater (and I won’t go into them here), but often it’s the parents who need to be retrained! You were right to “keep it lovely,” though, and you came up with a beautiful dish.
Your post made me smile. Kids these days.… When I was a kid, I ate what my mom served me or I’m banished from the dinner table. Now I have two picky boys. It’s a challenge making them want to eat what I want them to eat, but like what Mardi said, I find they’re more willing to try out new foods if they had some input in the cooking process. Persistence helps a lot, too.
You are too funny! I love that you dressed this up with shiitake mushrooms. If the kids didn’t eat this, I’d happily help with the leftovers!
Amen. Thank you! This is just so spot on… “the youngest, least refined palate in the group dictates what the rest of us eat.”
My child has a great palate and eats pretty much everything. I mean, child of a food blogger and cookbook author, you better never expect the same meal twice and you better accept what’s served because, well, I’ve been cooking all day and surely won’t be cooking anything ‘special’ for dinner, like a box of mac ‘n powdered cheese. Sure there are some things that don’t go over great but that’s to be expected. But it’s about exposing them, creating the opportunity. Love the post and the recipe!
I’m smiling at this one Greg…when we would go out to eat at restaurants, staff would hand my young son the ‘kid’s menu’, which of course contained plain buttered pasta, along with some fried goods…my son would then order, “I’ll have the rack of lamb with a Caesar salad”, we would always laugh. I guess having a cook for a Mom, you learn to enjoy a wide variety of foods. Pasta looks wonderful! ~Bijouxs
I agree with Katrina above!!!! Totally. This sounds fantastic.
I like this post, because this scenario sadly happens all to often. I won’t ever judge parents for feeding their kids whatever but it makes me a little sad because of the old saying. “You wont know until you try it” I use this for everything in my kids lives, not just food. But why not at least try it is my mantra. We all eat the same meals everyday but if I do introduce a new flavor and I get a not-so-keen reaction, they have to follow the 3 big bites rule. Afterwards if they still don’t like it, then I’ll scratch it from the list. Why torture the kids with something they genuinely don’t agree with. Luckily with my two this is a really rare occurrence 🙂 They eat pretty much anything. I grew up with very plain meals but my older brother would often work late and come home with Indian or Chinese take-out and I’d pick from his plate. I was probably about 5 or 6 and man, I loved that stuff. Today flavors and strong spices like that are my all time favorites!
I exposed all three of my kids to many different types of foods equally. Each one of them had a different attitude about their likes and dislikes. My rule was at least two nights a week of what we called adult food, which was all that was offered to them. We had our battles but today as adults they have a much broader palette than most. Raising kids is hard and a lot of work. We all have to pick our battles in the best way we can.
Amen… I’m always horrified by the things parents serve their kids. But what can you do. We’re not the parents.
This, however, is something I totally would have eaten as a kid because i was the least picky eater. Actually, I hated mushrooms, so I may have picked those out. Maybe. But really, I wasn’t picky. Mustard greens wouldn’t have frightened me at all… especially when tossed in buttery pasta.
I just make 3 different meals. Is that wrong? 😉 This flavor combination in this pasta dish looks scrumptious!
Nope, my girls don’t eat if they argue about what’s given to them. Take it or leave it. If lunch isn’t eaten it becomes an afternoon snack and then dinner. They always have to take a bite of a food they don’t normally like, eventually they might love it.
They have gotten much more into trying new things since they started helping in the garden and I will also let them pick a meal for the week that they would like.
See I learned another lesson from both Alisha and Mardi. Next time I’ll be even better prepared. GREG
Now see Greg if you’d invited them to cook with you you’d see they probably eat (or would at least try!) all those things on that “list”! I find when they cook themselves they are more willing to experiment with new foods. Seriously though, you could feed me this every day and I would be so very happy! Looks amazing!
Greg ~ I think Mardi is onto something here…though it seems as if it’s the mother who needs to be schooled most of all. At any rate, you ended up with a lovely recipe. Oh, and you’re killing me over here in the land of the frozen with your poolside party weather. Jealous!
Ha! I don’t know anything about kids! I know that I would like this meal though.…in a major way 🙂
DITTO!!!!!!!!!!!